


the look of an outland wife

by StormsBreadth



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Angst, M/M, Mental Illness, implicit peter nureyev/juno steel, it's just angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-23 23:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14343192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormsBreadth/pseuds/StormsBreadth
Summary: Peter Nureyev wakes up alone.





	the look of an outland wife

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for self-evident yet unremarked upon depression.

Peter Nureyev wakes up alone.

He's not really surprised. Surprise would suggest that there wasn't a part of him, pushed down by the heat of his hope, that had expected this all along. That there hadn't been a lingering voice in the back of his mind saying this wouldn't, couldn't last beyond that one ridiculous, heady heist.

He'd felt like he was betraying Juno at the time. Everything he said about trusting, letting go, while still, in the back of his mind, full of doubts.

Ironic, that.

He doesn't wait around. Well, doesn't wait around any more than his body, slow and unresponsive, makes him. It takes three tries to roll off the cold, empty bed, to leave the embrace of sheets that still smell of Juno. Another few before he can stand and make it to the shower. After that though, it's all mechanical. Put on clothes. Leave a tip for the staff. Climb out of the hotel window to avoid paying the bill.

Getting out of the city, is easy. Routine. He planned it all in advance. There's a bag full of cash and new identities hidden underneath a public payphone box. A thought occurs: why do they still have those. Public phones haven't been used since the first days of colonisation, when they still needed wires to form a communications network. It's the first real thought he's had since the previous night, so he regards it with interest as it crosses his mind. It doesn't develop.

He gets the first flight off Mars he can find. Doesn't look at the departure board, doesn't think about the flight that's going to be taking off with two empty seats, or the two unused tickets nestled in the depths of his bag. He walks through the spaceport, following signs leading to gates, and shuttles. Finds his designated seat and observes, as though from a distance, that the upholstery fabric is scratchy, the pattern garish enough to be offensive. Waits for the drugs to take him under and the spaceship to carry him through the void to Europa. 

He doesn't feel anything.

**Author's Note:**

> listen, Juno may have a set of canonical symptoms of mental illness but Peter broadly does not, which makes him fair game for projecting all of my own issues. 
> 
> This is the first time I've actually posted something to AO3! I have some vague ideas for follow up chapters that may or may not end up actually happening.


End file.
